Liberia: Summit on Men’s Health Starts Today

Pastor Weah: “The summit is all about educating and teaching men about their owned-health safety.”

Liberia: Summit on Men’s Health Starts Today

Men Empowerment Network of Liberia (MENL), a not-for-profit organization, will on December 11, conduct a one-day summit on men’s health in the country. 

The aim of the summit is to create awareness and provide guidance for men on how to take effective action, especially on reproductive, infectious diseases (mostly Sexually Transmitted Diseases).

Established in 2000 with immediate operations in 2016, the MENL’s annual summit will also provide spiritual and moral responsibility, economic as well as physiological health empowerment. 

The day-long event which is expected to take place at the Future Builders School, Kpelle Town Junction in Johnsonville, will attract more than 100 participants as well as women and girls, respectively.

Pastor Roosevelt Y. Weah, Executive Director of MENL, who spoke to the Daily Observer recently in Paynesville, said the summit is mainly intended to tackle the poor health of men throughout the country. 

According to him, the summit will also educate a lot of men on how to solve their home problems, do a proper medical check-up to avoid an early death. 

However, statistics from the Global Action on Men’s Health, show that globally, men die five years earlier than women and are 50% more likely to die between the ages of 15 and 60. In countries classified as ‘least developed’ and ‘less developed’ by the United Nations, adult mortality fell faster among women than men between 1992 and 2012. 

In every part of the world, according to Global Action on Men’s Health, men’s health outcomes are substantially worse than women’s, yet this inequality has received little national, regional or global attention from policymakers or healthcare providers.

As a result, Pastor Weah said, the summit will mainly focus on informing and teaching men about their health. 

“We realize that men's health is a serious global issue now including Liberia and this very issue is being neglected by Government and health organizations along the way. So as an organization we thought it wise to bring men together to inform them about their health,” he said.

The MENL Executive Director claimed that Global public health organizations have not identified men’s health as an issue or taken any significant steps to address the problems. Men are almost entirely absent from global public health policy.

“People usually focus on women and children but male health is very important. There are so many things that are affecting men so we at the Male Empowerment Network of Liberia, we teach men and boys how to take care of themselves,” he said.

Pastor Weah further disclosed that during the summit, they will also invite women, girls, and others to educate them on male health. 

He said, “The reason, we are inviting these people is because there are a lot of sicknesses that affect men including sexually transmitted diseases because men get those diseases from women and they also give it back to them, so all the parties will be presents on that day of the summit.”